The World Uyghur Congress (WUC) and the Ukrainian civic initiative Don’t Fund the Russian Army (DFRA) have filed a criminal complaint to Spain’s National Court against Huawei Technologies, Hikvision Digital Technology, Zhejiang Dahua Technology and their Spanish subsidiaries. Prepared in collaboration with a Barcelona-based law firm, the complaint requests that Spanish authorities investigate potential corporate complicity in serious international crimes under Spain’s universal jurisdiction framework.
“Filing this case in Spain is a necessary step to ensure that corporate involvement in atrocities does not go unanswered,” said Turgunjan Alawdun, WUC President. “We urge the Spanish judiciary to uphold universal legal principles and address these allegations with the seriousness they demand.”
The complaint accuses Huawei, Hikvision and Dahua of deploying technologies across East Turkistan, including in so-called ‘re-education centres’ – to enable the biometric surveillance and ethnic profiling of Uyghurs.
Based on Spain’s Criminal Code, the complaint requests an investigation into crimes against humanity. It further argues that corporate sanctions available under Spanish law could include substantial fines linked to profits, and in the most serious cases, corporate dissolution, where warranted. To this end, the complainants are asking the court to obtain expert opinions from relevant state bodies and summon representatives of the Spanish subsidiaries of Huawei, Hikvision and Dahua to be questioned.
This action follows a complaint lodged by the WUC in France in September 2025. Together, these cases draw on research indicating that Hikvision and Dahua equipment has not only been used in the mass surveillance of Uyghurs, but has also surfaced in systems in Ukraine that have been exploited during Russian attacks, including for real-time artillery correction.
‘Technologies marketed as “security” have become tools of repression and war,’ said Olga Matseliukh, Director of DFRA. ‘European institutions and companies must recognise that cybersecurity and corporate ethics are inseparable. A risk created in one country can have consequences in another.’
Source: World Uyghur Congress
Contact: World Uyghur Congress www.uyghurcongress.org
+49 89 5432 1999 or contact
uyghurcongress.org (contact[at]uyghurcongress[dot]org)
